Knowledge guarantees possibilities. And the more you know about education, the better. Below you’ll find some useful information about the latest trends that will impact your child’s future.
E-campus.
Online education is expanding at nearly three times the rate of overall higher education enrollments, advancing the ways in which technology for learning spreads. Gaming, virtual reality, text messaging and social networking are creating new learning venues, and digital students are demanding that more learning be delivered to them electronically.
World standards for education.
Europe is moving to a uniform accounting system for student learning. Educators from the United States, Canada, Europe, China and Australia are collaborating to assure quality control and recognition for degrees across countries.
World market for education.
The Internet makes global education possible, and countries are realizing the economic potential of international trade in education. China now has the world’s largest higher education system, awarding more university degrees than the United States and India combined. There are predictions that China will become the world hub for post-secondary education.
Global competition in education.
Although Canada has the highest level of post-secondary access and participation in the world, the advantage over OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) competitors has eroded in the last two decades. The European Union, Australia and other countries have implemented strategies to make them the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economies in the world.
Return on education investment.
The rapidly rising price of higher education is a cause for concern, but the cost associated with not going to college or university is much greater. The 2001 Census revealed that by their late 50s, graduates with bachelor’s degrees earned 50 percent more than the Canadian average income. Over a 40-year working life, the average income differential for a university graduate was about $1 million more than a high school graduate.
Changing job market.
Between 1990 and 2006, jobs for university graduates doubled, whereas jobs for those who had not completed any post-secondary education declined. The knowledge-based economy will further reinforce the significant economic return on investment in a university education. Master’s degrees may be becoming the ‘new’ credential for access to higher paying jobs.
Sources of information:
- Society for College and University Planning (www.scup.org)
- Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (www.aucc.ca)
- Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD Observer [Paris], pp.57-58, Nov 2001
- World Trade [Troy], vol.11, no.7, pp.34-37, 1998
- David Ward. The challenges of irreversible change in higher education.